Britin Foster, who co-owns the business with her baker-husband, Nick, tells me the couple wanted to expand their repertoire (and audience) beyond the strictly vegetarian and will offer two to four items with fish/meat or that may have fish/meat substituted for vegetarian proteins. They plan to add grassfed beef from Tilldale Farm in Hoosick for burgers and/or hash, perhaps rabbit from R’Eisen Shine Farm in Copake and fish from Fin in Guilderland.

Britin tells me:

We did a some informal polls for about a month before making this difficult decision. While there are a few people who aren’t happy with the change, we received overwhelmingly positive responses from most everyone we talked to. Serving sustainably raised, local proteins still fits with our farm to table ethos and our menu will continue feature stellar fresh, local produce. We are happy to add these slow-food producers to our roster of more than 20 others.

Located at 540 Delaware Ave., All Good Bakers is open 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.Wednesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.

I may be seen to be piling on (a concept with which, if you think eating dead animals horrific you are very likely unfamiliar) but why precisely are these seemingly well intentioned people doomed by your precise gustatory preferences to bankruptcy?

I am not surprised. B and N aren’t vegetarians. Now they can support local farms raising animals humanely and sustainably and bring that kind of meat to the carnivores among us. You can still get your vegan fix at AGB, but now carnivores will have an alternative to the bad stuff out there. Humans are never going to go all veg. I’m glad to support humane, sustainable farming practices by eating Nick’s delicious food!

This is a good move that will make All Good Bakers far more attractive to a wider audience. While some people are understandably disappointed with the owners’ move away from an all-vegetarian menu, you can’t run a business on overpriced bread alone.

I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY WE CAN’T EXIST IN THE SAME PLACE VEGAN, VEGITARTIAN AND MEAT/FISH HUMANS. NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER AND I MYSELF THINK THEY ARE MAKING RIGHT CHOICES. HOW DO VEGANS AND VEGITARTIANS WHEN A MENU HAS NO CHOICES FOR THEM!!

I wish the All Good Bakers the best with their business, but I wish they put more effort into staying vegetarian. Maybe they could have found some inspiration from the other 145 vegan/vegetarian restaurants that are thriving in NY (not even a full search for NY state). There are obviously ways to support your family while following your dream. I am assuming since meat is now on the menu, the reason for this restaurant was not to help animals/environment.

Please do not fall for the humanely raised meat myth-every being wants to live-period. Don’t even try to define a humane death-you just can’t win this argument. No healthy creature with the will to live wants to die.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to how we get our meat. The flood of “fake” meat in our stores is proof that many Americans are having a change of heart. If Mr. Barnes allows this short video, I think everyone will find it information AND entertaining. I wish everyone a great weekend!

“There are obviously ways to support your family while following your dream.” Correct. There simply isn’t any obligation for these people to limit their attempt to support their family to pursuing YOUR dream.

As always….Great Job Nick and Brit!!!
For those folks who can’t seem to stomach the fact that this young couple is trying to do the best job possible for their customers and their FAMILY, please feel free to give it a shot yourselves. Spend every last dime you have and every waking moment of your life, and every drop and essence of your spirit..to ‘make a go of it’ in this business…and see how that works for you.

Newsflash—IDEALS don’t pay the bills!! This is America and we are free to live our lives and choose the path we wish to take. Don’t like meat? don’t eat it. Simple. They are not forcing anyone to eat what they don’t want to and are not now secretly spiking the vegan offerings with animal products…MWAHAHAHA!!! No, they are not. They are simply expanding the offerings to appeal to a wider range of people. Please don’t vilify them for that.
You want a villain to despise- go ahead and choose me! I LOVE MEAT!!! Red med-rare bloody cow flesh! I serve lots of it at my location and lots of our customers love it as well. We also serve a phenomenal egg-plant parmesan and awesome salads for the non-meat eaters. Know why? because diversity is what WORKS. If just one person in the group doesn’t find something to eat off your menu, the ‘veto vote’ may cause the loss of the group to another establishment. How many times can your business withstand that dynamic?
I’ve been open almost 17yrs, and certain things I’ve learned in the almost 2 decades at my location can be summed up in a quote from Sir Winston Churchill …” Any man under the age of 30 who isn’t a liberal, has not heart…any man over the age of 30 who isn’t a conservative, has no brains”.

Willie, as has been mentioned, just click on my name and you should see the link to my cafe. But I wanted the thread to stay on-topic for AGB so I didn’t come out with it directly. But like you, I don’t hide behind an anonymous screen name or hide who I am…as opposed to some of the more venemous snakes in the grass 😉

I welcome the change. While I’m happy with vegan, vegetarian, pseudo- vegetarian and the like, I know in my heart Brittin and Nick will offer fresh, local, high quality, responsible, and delicious food..as always! They deserve their success!!

This will broaden their business tremendously, affording them the opportunity to keep providing us with their diverse menu, and many vegetarian choices. There is room for everyone. Keep on growing, b & n!

If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. But please, please, please: Don’t Preach! Best wishes to Nick & Britin on their success and certain continued success in the future. I can’t wait to try some of the new meat dishes, especially knowing they are made from locally sourced ingredients and provided by farmers dedicated to humane farming – something that’s otherwise hard to find, sadly, in the Capital Region. All Good Bakers is so, so very special and deserves absolutely nothing but praise.

First:
@Jenn Krause…Nick and Britin are committed to serving responsibly, locally sourced ingredients of the highest quality…that is their first and foremost goal…that is their mission…when they started their business they were vegetarian/vegan and now they consume meat…their goal/mission has not wavered simply because they choose to expand their menu to appeal to a wider audience…
Second:
I wonder, of these other 145 (or so) vegan/vegetarian eateries in NYS how many are committed to obtaining local,organic products…and when I say local, I mean <50 miles away (maybe a maximum of <100 miles away)…the reason for the restaurant was for an inspired, motivated, hardworking couple to make a living doing what they love; while helping the community and environment…yes, all meat is not responsibly sourced, but they work closely with trusted friends and farmers (all local) rather than buying 'Purdue' from the supermarket because they (now) have trendy commercials…these are people that we can actually trust as consumers…
@jason baker…bump and you rock chef…right on!…@non_foodie the bread is not over priced per the quality of ingredients they use…everything else you said, right on…@G, @Matt P, @Maria F…YES!!! @elmer double/quadruple bump! @Michelle Hines Abram @ Todd exactly, people you can trust, honest, hardworking people…bump! @GOOSE @Adam Daniels @bill…bump, bump, bump…@Annie W, @Fawn, @B, @Joe, @Willie Pittman, @The Pro From Dover…BUMP!!!

Lauren seems to get what Jenn was saying. This restaurant started as a vegetarian/vegan business. For those of us involved with trying to help all animals, it was a sad news to hear the menu would include meat. Their goal/mission HAS waivered as far as animal rights. Yes they are still the same great, honest people but this is a major change that as Britin said “some people were not happy with the change.”

Of the 145 (or so) vegan/vegetarian restaurants in NYS, the vast majority are committed to local/organic produce. Sometimes local is not right in the backyard (NYC restaurants) but vegan/vegetarian restaurants are committed to organic and fresh produce.

For all those hard working people making a living doing what they love, helping the environment, keeping animals off the menu, serving great, healthy food…BUMP!

I am a vegetarian and this doesn’t bother me at all. There will be still plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, which is more than I can say for most area restaurants, where I’m lucky to find even one or two vegetarian options that aren’t pasta based.

I can’t stand when people lecture me about not eating meat–it happens often enough. I don’t want to lecture other people about how they eat. If you don’t want to eat meat, fine. If you do, that’s fine too. Just don’t tell me how to eat.

We stopped in to AGB this morning for breakfast and gave their new beef hash a go. It was absolutely amazing. Flavorful, fresh, and hearty. Way to go guys, all politics aside We left happy and full customers.

@18 Todd:
You make some good points — and even better moz sticks — but you inject political ideology in an unnecessary manner at the end of your post. Even us brainless liberals over the age of 30 can support the recent changes at AGB. Perhaps this won’t change your mind, but Churchill likely never uttered the observation you and others have attributed to him:http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/quotations/quotes-falsely-attributed

I apologize if the Churchill quote was a bit obtuse. I meant it more in the way of principle as opposed to politics. I’m not about politics or imposing my views on other people.
I attempted to use it to illustrate that as we get older our ideology changes according to our experiences. When we are young we are so full of these great ideas and fire to change the world for the better. As we get older and more mature, we begin to choose our battles more wisely. We fight the battles we can win and capitulate to those we cannot. Or at least we begin to put more ‘energy’ towards the things we can change …

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference” .

I don’t believe the essence of AGB has changed…they are still commited to natural, local, organic clean products. They are simply expanding the offerings, which will attract new customers and bring new faces into the fold and expand the reach of that ideology into a wider audience. Which is a good thing for everybody. So it isn’t about being ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ it is about being ‘wise’ and making smart choices…both for the world we live in AND for their business and family.
No politics for me, sorry if it came across that way.
Capice? 😉
And back to our topic—GREAT JOB ALL GOOD BAKERS!

I tremble at the thought of those poor defenseless vegetables being picked, cut up, cooked and even eaten while still alive!!! At least the cow is dead when I eat my steak(mostly anyway, I’ll have mine blue).
Ridiculous, right? So is chastising a business owner for trying to give their customers what they want. I’m sure they are sorry if it fails to live up to what YOUR vision of THEIR business should be. Regardless of the content of anyone’s diet, why would you piss on a local couple who are working hard to make a positive mark on the area?
@Todd…Some awesome comments. Reminds me again of how much I need to haul my butt into your place.

I am really happy for them and for myself. I always feel a little limited or out of place when I eat there… The baked goods are great and the grilled cheese is amazing, but I have no interest in having a a meat substitute as part of my meal and there is a lot of seitan on the menu – or at least it looms large to me. I am glad I will have a choice and will probably go more often (which also means more trips to the cheese traveler, yeah!).

Willie, the reason that some vegans and vegetarians are unhappy about this… They’re not content to simply enjoy their dietary preferences, but look down on those of us who don’t share their commitment. Apparently AGB has run afoul of some area folks due to their revised menu.

Folks, I am not vegetarian and I support AGB’s need to turn a profit, but the vegetarian-bashing here seems a little over-the-top. For vegetarians, and especially for vegans, it can be tedious to navigate a restaurant menu. Meat products (and dairy, for those who eschew that) are often not obvious, ie. a vegetable soup made with beef broth. Imagine if you were in a situation where you could, at best, usually only eat a couple of things on any restaurant menu, and that often only by making special requests to have items left off or subbed out.

Imagine, how pleasing it would be to find a delicious local place where you could eat anything on the menu. No need to scrutinize the list of ingredients – it’s all good! And then imagine how disappointing it would feel to find that would no longer be the case.

Yes, there will still be vegetarian/vegan items but surely there will be fewer of them available, and vegetarians and vegans will have to go back to checking ingredients and asking questions. They also won’t be supporting a vegetarian restaurant any more, which is obviously a concern for many folks.

I wish the AGB folks all the best and this won’t affect my patronage, but I think berating people for feeling a bit disappointed is a bit much.

meg, I’m sure there’s a reason for your great concern for the welfare of vegetarians/vegans but I don’t know what it is.

Lots of people have prejudices about the food they eat. They have to work harder than the rest to indulge those prejudices. Big deal.

For example, I HATE sweet peppers. That means when I go into a Thai or Chinese restaurant (simply for example), I have to look down the menu and eliminate all of the MANY items that contain sweet peppers – including ALL of the sweet-&-sour dishes served in most Chinese places. But I don’t loudly gripe about having to do that. It’s my own choice that makes it necessary.

Even a vegetarian/vegan won’t be harmed by mistakenly ordering something made with a meat broth. If such a person feels suicidal after eating same, (s)he’s pretty unbalanced.

Is it the view of most vegetarians/vegans that the separation has to be as complete as is required by strict kosher eaters, who keep two sets of dishes? Too much.

There are usually, these days, things on most menus suitable for these people. Let them order those things.

Willie – I know. I spoke too soon…at least partly. It seems to work OK for threads with fewer than 50 posts. But once it goes to a second “page”, we’re still stuck with searching around for the most recent response.

P.S. It would be good to have Preview before submitting to reduce errors.

Meg944, I certainly can’t speak for All Good Bakers but my guess is they didn’t decide to add these items to their menu because of a “need to turn a profit”, as you say. As business owners, I hope they were already turning a profit, doing what they love to do, i.e. preparing great food for their customers.

@Willie Pittman: For once, I completely agree with you. Try not to faint.

To the vegetarians who are angry at AGB for trying to attract more customers and turn a profit, get a grip on reality. They never said that they would stop selling the vegetarian and vegan items you want. They are just offering something to those of us who eat meat and fish.

I’m not a vegetarian at all, but I cant understand why they would be a little bothered by this. Can we meat eaters please stop whining about how “preachy” vegans are? You guys make me embarrassed to eat meat.

Vegans/vegetarians have beliefs on animal cruelty and will sometimes express them when a newsworthy event (like this) happens. Get over it.

I don’t mind that they’re serving meat now though personally, I’m just expressing my annoyance at the insecure meat-eaters. I really ought to give this place a try sometime.

We respect everyone’s dietary choices and made this change because we want to offer more variety on the menu, feature some incredible local producers we know, reach a wider audience and fulfill Nick’s creative ideas. We’ve heard many opinions over the last year from both sides, and we’ve made our peace with eating & serving locally-sourced responsibly cared-for meats & sustainable fish. We understand that some people object, and we certainly respect that viewpoint, but we’re doing what we think is best for the business without compromising our own personal values.

We will clearly list on our menu (online and in shop) what is vegan/vegetarian/meat/fish so there is no guesswork. Nick is taking extreme care in the kitchen not to cross-contaminate equipment & utensils, and to ensure that a larger percentage of our menu is vegan/vegetarian, with a few meat/fish based dishes and substitutions (the opposite of most places). Our mission remains intact: to serve Clean, Fresh, Local foods.

We appreciate everyone’s opinions on this post, thank you for contributing to the conversation.